1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic device for binding a gliding member or any other sporting item on a corresponding boot, of the type allowing a certain possibility of pivoting of movement to the boot.
Thus, it can be a roller skate, roller blade, gliding board, telemark ski, bicycle pedal, or a cross-country ski.
2. Background and Material Information
In all of the aforementioned cases of known applications, and especially in the case of a cross-country ski, the boot has an axial immobilization means capable of cooperating with a housing or a corresponding notch arranged transversely on a body of the binding device affixed to the ski and comprising an associated latch that can be activated from a latching position of the immobilization means of the boot and vice versa, by means of control means arranged on the binding body, and acting on the latch.
An automatic binding device of this type, already known in cross-country skiing, includes a base in which a notch having a U-shaped section is provided, adapted to receive a journal axis of the boot, which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the ski, and whose upper portion is capable of being blocked by a latch that can be displaced longitudinally. The latch is biased by a spring in the latching position, and the positioning of the boot in the binding must be done from top down by pushing back the latch to the open position. This boot is therefore positioned against the force of the spring biasing the latch into the latching position and, therefore, requires the production of a substantial effort at an intensity that is at least equal to that of the latching force of the system.
The positioning of the boot in such a binding device is not easy because it must be accompanied by an effort that must have a sufficient longitudinal intensity component to push back the latch into an opening position in order to enable the engagement and then the latching of the journal axis into the notch. The opening of the binding device is done manually.
The French Patent No. 2 635 014 proposes a binding device that remedies these disadvantages, by describing a system in which the latch is opened when it is in the fitting position, so as to facilitate the positioning of the boot.
This is made possible by the aforementioned patent, by the fact that the latch is also rotationally displaceable in a vertical plane, and that means are provided to make it pivot upwardly in the fitting position of the binding, so as to clear the passage of the axis of the boot towards its housing, in order to facilitate the positioning thereof with respect to the binding. In such a binding, the unlatching is done manually.
Another problem arises when the journal axis of the boot or any other means for axial immobilization of the latter, is not located at the front end of the boot but in an intermediate zone thereof located between its two ends. Indeed, in such a case, the user must "put on the boot blindly", i.e., he or she must position the journal axis of the boot in the associated housing of the binding device without any vision of this housing and therefore by successive trials and errors. Furthermore, such a positioning of the journal axis makes it difficult to access an unlatching control always necessary in a binding of this type that is in fact semi-automatic (i.e., with automatic latching, but manual unlatching). However, the tendency in the binding systems of cross-country ski but also in other systems such as telemark ski, biking . . . , is to have the binding zone of the boot in an intermediate zone between its ends and generally in the articulation zone of the metatarsal bones, i.e., in a zone extending over approximately the first third of the length of the boot or of the foot. Moreover, the known binding devices of this type have a disadvantage of not allowing a possibility of automatic release of the latching in certain critical situations, during the practice of the sport. Of course, this situation is most often encountered during a fall.
Until now, especially in the case of a cross-country ski, the tendency has been to think that because of the great freedom of movement of the foot, which is in fact only maintained by the tip of the boot in the binding of the ski, the latter could not have a substantial incidence in the twisting of the skier's ankle in the case of a fall. However, this situation is different when the boot is maintained on the gliding member in a median zone of its sole especially as the gliding member is a ski that is capable of exerting a substantial torsional stress through the lever arm which it creates.
It is readily understood that this could have serious consequences on the ankle of the athlete.
French Patent No. 2 439 602, commonly owned herewith, proposes another type of ski binding device comprising:
a hooking element connected to the boot and extending the latter in the direction of its longitudinal axis, the element having at least one arm transverse to the longitudinal axis of the boot and spaced from the end of the latter; PA1 a support element mounted on the ski and comprising a first support zone for the transverse arm of the element connected to the boot, the support zone allowing the pivoting of the arm over itself; PA1 a system for retaining the arm against the first support zone, this retention system comprising a frame journalled on a portion affixed to the ski, on the one hand, and a movable pressure member, journalled on the frame and having a second support zone for the transverse arm allowing the pivoting of the arm over itself, on the other hand, the second support zone being provided on the pressure member that is capable of moving between an inactive position in which it is distanced from the first support zone located on the support element an active position in which its own support zone is applied against the arm of the hooking element and biased in the direction of the support zone of the support element due to the tensioning of an elastic element thus assuring the application of the two support zones against the transverse arm.
In fact, the frame and the movable pressure member constitute a latching system of the knuckle joint type, the journal axis of the frame on the movable member being located between the support zone of the movable member and the journal axis of the frame on the ski, and being capable of moving on both sides of the dead center line connecting the support zone to the journal axis of the frame on the ski.
Although this device is satisfactory with respect to the functioning of the latching, it has nevertheless several disadvantages, starting precisely with the fact that this latching can not be done automatically but, on the contrary, it forces the skier to bend down to latch or unlatch his or her boot, and also with the fact that it is not compatible with a position of the axis of the boot beneath the latter.
In addition, as already mentioned in the previous case, an automatic unlatching is not provided, and the same torsional effect on the tip of the boot can occur, especially in the case of a ski then acting in the manner of a lever arm.